Corruption

[meemiathai]

At least in Thailand everyone gets a chance, even the poor. In the west you need to already be rich and powerful to get into the club.

What absolute rubbish!!

I think the poster was trying to be sarcastic.

[meemiathai]

The only place that is corruption free is North Korea.

[marshbags]

Yet another report of dodgy deals to be investigated courtesy of the B.Post.

General news >> Tuesday December 05, 2006

Quote:-

IRREGULARITIES / LABOUR MINISTRY SEEKS PROBE

OAG looking into allegations of shady social security deals

PENCHAN CHAROENSUTHIPAN

The Labour Ministry has asked the Office of the Auditor-General (OAG) to look into alleged irregularities in seven social security projects, worth billions of baht, Labour Minister Apai Chanthanajulaka said yesterday. He said the ministry has provided data to the OAG about the seven allegedly shady deals under the Social Security Office.

They include the 500 million baht purchase of the Wattajak building, the 2.8-billion-baht installation of labour information technology and the 16 million baht discount coupons for the purchase of consumer goods during festive seasons.

The other four are the 400 million baht career training centres in Chiang Mai and Khon Kaen, the commission of foreign traders for offshore trade, limited access to dental and childbirth services and training on social security services.

Unquote.

Please go to the following url for the complete article.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/05Dec2006_news08.php

More alarming once again is that many less priviledged citizens are effected by these unprincipled

" shady deals "

They can least afford what benefits will / are being restricted as a consequence, especially childbirth and dental facilities.

How can anyone justify these sort of unethical practices ?

" It happens everywhere, It,s gone on for a long time over years. ect. ect. DO NOT make it O.K., or give these individuals the right to cheat and rob the least well off.

Also the ones that can, as well, just in case anyone thinks they should be fair game.

marshbags

Edited December 5, 2006 by marshbags

[sriracha john]

Just think of how far behind the whole country would have been in if Thaksin HADN'T been thrown out and had been allowed to continue on with his wanton, stealing, conniving, corrupt ways until 2009... or longer.

If he had been allowed to follow in Marcos footsteps and rape the country for over 2 decades...

I shudder to think of that....

[grapetable]

North Korea not corrupt? Are you kidding?

[grapetable]

Remind me............has Thaksin been found guilty? In fact I think they have not found much evidence at all so far.

[JacknDanny]

Remind me............has Thaksin been found guilty? In fact I think they have not found much evidence at all so far.

Make a sentence from the following words................

SAND.... YOUR.... OUT........ GET............. OF........ HEAD.......... THE

[Donz]

Who care about corruption, it will be around where ever you go.

The whole world is corrupt.

[davidjtayler]

Who care about corruption, it will be around where ever you go.

The whole world is corrupt.

I'm not ... I'm incorruptible ...!

[OlRedEyes]

Who care about corruption, it will be around where ever you go.

The whole world is corrupt.

One would hope that you try and keep the dogshite out of your house so you don't have to wade knee-deep through it on the way to the fridge...

[Naam]

"One would hope that you try and keep the dogshite out of your house so you don't have to wade knee-deep through it on the way to the fridge..."

*****

perhaps it would help to rub the OlRedEyes a bit to see reality?

[terry57]

Who care about corruption, it will be around where ever you go.

The whole world is corrupt.

cricky's donz,

you are really cranking things up.

now you got 3034 posts up.

keep up the good wor k.

[Donz]

Who care about corruption, it will be around where ever you go.

The whole world is corrupt.

One would hope that you try and keep the dogshite out of your house so you don't have to wade knee-deep through it on the way to the fridge...

Wake up on the wrong side of the bed?

So you think im not right? Maybe you need to open your eyes abit. Other countries can just hide it better. Or dont you think any "western" country has an ounce of any corruption

[marshbags]

Courtesy of todays Nation.

Wed, December 6, 2006 : Last updated 5:22 am (Thai local time)

Home > Opinion > Democracy versus Corruption: the latest episode

STOPPAGE TIME

Democracy versus Corruption: the latest episode

Both the Angel and the Demon have regained some strength after their near-catastrophic clash over the Kingdom of Thailand in September. The long pause since has only served to mix up their already inseparable appearances.

Now, not only are the World, Heaven and hel_l confused, the two great enemies - known as Democracy and Corruption - are barely aware themselves who they really are.

Who's who now? Which one of them is dying? Which one is getting back its power? Their fiery exchanges, as both brace themselves for yet another showdown, shed no light on these questions and reveal only one thing: this is very far from over.

Corruption: Now, what are you going to do about it?

Democracy: About what?

Corruption: The protest. The rally that people are planning to mark Constitution Day. They are bemoaning your supposed death. They think the tanks have killed you, not me. What will you do about that?

Democracy: Everyone has the right to peaceful assembly as long as ...

Corruption: ... they don't create trouble or threaten national stability. Yeah, I heard that a thousand times before. Coming from your mouth, it is encouraging, though. Now I guess you've seen the merits of martial law, too, huh?

Democracy: If it can prevent your return, I'm not going to shed a tear over the existence of martial law.

Corruption: Well, well, well. A coup has been condoned and now martial law. What's next? Arresting protesters or even shooting them? I knew you would join the dark side; I'm just amazed at the speed of your transformation.

Democracy: Go on, as if I care. For many years you took advantage of my tolerance, of my decency. You kept pushing my limits. You didn't use ballot boxes to do anything good for my name. All you did was hide behind them while chipping away at my very essence. You fouled me first, so don't cry like a baby now that I have fouled you.

Corruption: You never get it, do you? Has it ever occurred to you that all this is one hel_l of a clever scheme to provoke you into destroying your own soul?

Democracy: We've gone through this before. It takes one to kill one. I'll be worried about my soul later. I'll fight the tanks later, if you don't manage to consume them.

Please go to the following url for the full article:-

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2006/12/06...on_30020846.php

marshbags

Edited December 6, 2006 by marshbags

[marshbags]

Who care about corruption, it will be around where ever you go.

The whole world is corrupt.

One would hope that you try and keep the dogshite out of your house so you don't have to wade knee-deep through it on the way to the fridge...

A simple / funny, but profound statement and meaningful.

marshbags

[OlRedEyes]

"One would hope that you try and keep the dogshite out of your house so you don't have to wade knee-deep through it on the way to the fridge..."

*****

perhaps it would help to rub the OlRedEyes a bit to see reality?

I am totally aware of reality, unfortunately. Reality is that perfection can never be achieved. I was trying to paint a picture instead of going off with a million words to illustrate that the fact that perfection cannot be achieved doesn't mean that you should not strive to improve things. If you don't do anything to go forward, you drift backwards. In life there is no standing still.

Who care about corruption, it will be around where ever you go.

The whole world is corrupt.

One would hope that you try and keep the dogshite out of your house so you don't have to wade knee-deep through it on the way to the fridge...

Wake up on the wrong side of the bed?

So you think im not right? Maybe you need to open your eyes abit. Other countries can just hide it better. Or dont you think any "western" country has an ounce of any corruption

Nobody in their right mind can believe the whole world is 100% anything. It's the balance that matters. If corruption is dominant, the country can only move in one direction. Stop fighting corruption/crime/disease/whatever and it will overwhelm you.

[marshbags]

Taken from todays Nation:-

Sun, December 10, 2006 : Last updated 0:10 am (Thai local time)

The Nation

TELECOMS DEAL

NCCC 'must sue' over fee conversion

TDRI chief says switch from concession fee to excise duty cost TOT, CAT Bt39 bn

The National Counter Corruption Commis-sion (NCCC) should consider prosecuting state officials and

former politicians responsible for the 2003 conversion of six telecom concession fees into

excise duty, researcher Somkiat Tangkitvanich told a seminar yesterday.

The research director of Thai-land Development Research Insti-tute (TDRI) said the alleged wrongdoers should face legal action because the conversion had resulted in Bt39-billion damage to two state enterprises, TOT Corp and CAT Telecom Corp.

The telecom conversion was one of the alleged policy-corruption cases cited by the Council for National Security (CNS) for staging the September 19 coup that ousted the Thaksin government.

Somkiat's suggestion came hot on the heels of the NCCC's harsh action against the Revenue Depart-ment, where the director-general and other senior officials are facing civil and criminal lawsuits for neglecting to collect billions of baht in income tax from the Shinawatra family following Shin Corp stock transactions.

According to Somkiat, the Thaksin government converted the concession fees of four mobile-phone and two fixed-line phone companies, including AIS of Shin Corp, into an excise duty of 10 per cent and 2 per cent respectively in February 2003.

The alleged wrongdoing seriously weakened state-owned TOT Corp and CAT Telecom Corp due to the hefty loss of concession fees, though it greatly benefited the private telecom firms as they could deduct the tax from the concession fees.

The Thaksin government, with its various populist policies, was among the beneficiaries due to the direct flow of tax revenue into state coffers.

Originally the Thaksin government proposed to levy 50 per cent excise on mobile and fixed-line phone concessionaires, but it later reduced the rates to 10 per cent and 2 per cent respectively.

Somkiat also accused the former Thaksin government of causing damage estimated at Bt71 billion to the public by granting undue financial support to businesses closely allied with the government.

Such crony-capitalist practises were cited as one of the key risks still hitting the Thai economy nearly a decade after the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

At yesterday's year-end TDRI seminar, Anand Panyarachun, chairman of the TDRI Foundation, said: "It would be wrong if we said that we had not learnt anything from the crisis, but the question is: have we learnt it adequately? For some of the die-hard behaviour and practices are still around."

About 600 economists, social activists and community leaders yesterday attended the annual seminar entitled "Close on a Decade after the Economic Crisis: Lessons and Reforms."

Anand, a former premier, expressed concern about crony capitalism, which he said had become widespread again in the past four or five years.

Unquote.

please go to the following url for the complete article:-

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2006/12/10...es_30021177.php

The loss to Thailands coffers must be several hundred BILLION when taking the total amounts from all cases now under investigation.

This is only a conservative figure off the top of my head by the way !!!!!!

The gains for the soon to be poorer Thaksin family ( after the tax mans done ? ) and his cohorts must be of a similar amount of course.

Imagine the benefits the rural communities have sacrificed / lost in real terms as against the benefits the previous government supposedly gave them, not forgetting all the poorest of Thai society

Me, i,d incarcerate the lot of them after stripping their assets gained through their corrupt policies.

They have earned both in my humble opinion.

There is of course the human rights abuses to take into account but this is covered in another thread.

marshbags

Edited December 10, 2006 by marshbags

[marshbags]

From todays B.Post

General news >> Monday December 11, 2006

Quote:-

Action needed in share case

The National Counter-Corruption Commission took a seminal step in the political development of Thailand last week. The NCCC examined a major tax case involving the family of Thaksin Shinawatra and the family's former company, Shin Corp. The commission ruled that the tax officials involved in the case, including the chief of the tax office, were negligent in the case. The ruling used the word ''guilty'' to describe the verdict against Revenue Department chief Sirote Swasdipanich and four senior aides. Now the government has to prevent this important case from being swept under the table. To their immense credit _ so far _ it appears that the cabinet ministers of Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont recognise the huge importance of this case. The anti-corruption body ruling was reasonably simple as was the actual case involved. Khunying Potjaman Shinawatra instigated a transfer of 4.5 million shares of Shin Corp to her step-brother, Bannapot Damapong. She did not sell or give the shares directly to Mr Bannapot. Instead, they passed through the hands of Duangta Vongpakdi, a maid of the Shinawatra family. Khunying Potjaman allegedly gave the shares to her maid. The maid then gave them to Mr Bannapot as a 738-million-baht wedding gift _ two years after Mr Bannapot's marriage.

Unquote.

Please go to the following url for the full article

http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/11Dec2006_news14.php

The last six words of this part quote are interesting.

I, for one, wasn,t aware that he had married 2 years before he got his " gift "

Perhaps she,d been saving it as a delayed surprise or SOMETHING !!!!!!!!!!

It gets better by the day once again.

marshbags

Edited December 11, 2006 by marshbags